A mum has spoken of how she was left heartbroken after her 'kind' son was killed with one punch in a fatal assault. Becky White, 43, says a part of her 'has died' following the loss of her child.
Dean Skillin was just 20 when he died after being punched on a night out in Bangor, Wales back in 2020. The assailant, Brandon Sillence, was described in court as "aggressive and confrontational" and ready to punch his "own shadow".
Dean, 20, and his cousin were making the most of the lifting of lockdown restrictions and had been out for some drinks. Wales Online reports that they were attacked by Sillence outside The Waverley Hotel on September 19, 2020.
The huge force of the punch caused Dean's skull to rotate on his spine leading to a catastrophic brain injury and killing him outright. For mum, Becky, the pain has only got worse since that fateful night when she learned her son had died
She said: "I just feel like that when somebody dies, part of you dies. And you go into autopilot mode where you're just somehow functioning but I don’t know how.
"And I just take each day as it comes and just do what I need to do. I work, sort the kids out, get them to school, it’s just day by day basically."
February is a difficult month for the mother as it is the birth month of her beloved son who saw his life tragically cut short. The first year after his death, they celebrated his birthday, on February 20, with fireworks.
However, this year the family will not be carrying out any celebrations on what would have been Dean's 22nd birthday. Becky said: "It’s getting harder and harder and I don’t want to celebrate.
"We are all the same - it’s another Christmas he’s not here, another birthday he’s not here. It’s just hard for everybody."
Following the death, Sillence was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in December, 2021 for the manslaughter of Dean. Caernarfon Crown Court heard that 25-year-old used his fists to deliver the fatal blow which resulted in Dean "being brain dead before he hit the ground".
A jury found Sillence not guilty of murder, but he'd already admitted to manslaughter, and committing assault causing ABH on Dean's cousin, Taylor Lock. Despite seeing the assailant locked up, the sentence will never be enough for Becky.
She said: "I didn’t go to the last hearing. I couldn’t bear it. I sat outside.
"When the jury found him not guilty I was just so hurt for my son.
"I knew he [Sillence] would be getting single figures for my son’s life. I would’ve liked 20 years - a year for each year of his life."
Becky maintains that Sillence knew exactly what he was doing when he launched his attack and that he fully intended to cause harm. She added: "The jury weren’t swayed by the evidence.
"They couldn’t come to the conclusion that he’d tried to harm him. We know it wasn’t murder but I believe he was trying to harm him."
Following the jury's decision, the mother decided to release CCTV footage of the killer punch. Becky added: "We wanted to show that it’s what’s called a sucker punch, where you hit the person while they're unaware that they’re going to get the blow.
"Dean was totally unprepared for it coming. What we were trying to show was that his fist was used as a weapon."
The 43-year-old said she also wanted those who supported Sillence and his account of that evening to see the footage. Becky said: "I wanted to put it out there that when my son was killed there was no fight or words exchanged between Dean and Brandon.
"You can clearly see by the video that the police have released that Brandon 'Coward' Sillence punched my son from behind."
Despite the fact Sillence was given the maximum sentence for the lower manslaughter category, Becky launched a petition afterwards to demand the law be changed to increase sentences for one punch assaults that kill, to equal those for murder. It was signed by more than 24,000 people to which the government responded.
A statement last year from the government read: "Manslaughter has a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. It is important that judges are able to sentence appropriately according to all the factors in each case."
Becky said: "It’s not fair - when you kill someone and you purposefully use your fists to hurt somebody then how can you not get life or 15 years at least. I don’t understand."
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